USS Gerald R. Ford and Strike Group Arrive Home Ending Record Deployment
USS Gerald R. Ford and her strike group returned to base, completing a record deployment and the first combat action for the Navy’s newest carrier. The ship, which had deployed on June 24, 2025, for what was expected to be a routine mission to participate with NATO on exercises and visit the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, instead found herself involved first in the actions around Venezuela and then returned to the Mediterranean and Red Sea for the commencement of the actions against Iran.
The U.S. Navy had confirmed at the beginning of the week that the deployment was coming to an end, several weeks after speculation began to grow. She was replaced in the Middle East by USS George H.W. Bush, which continues to operate alongside USS Abraham Lincoln and a total of approximately 20 U.S. warships.
Secretary Pete Hegseth was on hand in Virginia today, May 16, as Ford, along with USS Mahan and USS Bainbridge, arrived at Naval Station Norfolk. He was there to present a Presidential Unit Citation to the carrier and her Strike Group and to welcome the sailors home after what turned into a record deployment. USS Winston S. Churchill also returned from the deployment, proceeding to her homeport at Naval Station Mayport, near Jacksonville, Florida.
OFFICIALLY HOME!!! Family and friends will soon embrace Sailors of the guided-missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81) after 11 months!!! pic.twitter.com/AB9rR6SHCi
— Naval Station Mayport (@NS_Mayport) May 16, 2026
(Return of USS Winston S. Churchill to Mayport)
Ford racked up what is being reported as the third or fourth longest deployment in recent history, a total of 326 days. USNI News reports the longest deployment was USS Midway, which was at sea for a total of 332 days in 1972 and 1973, during the Vietnam War. USS Coral Sea was deployed for 329 days in 1965. The reports are excluding the 341-day deployment in 2020-2021 for USS Nimitz during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she was also in quarantine for periods. USS Abraham Lincoln was deployed for 294 days during the pandemic.
Signs of the return came at the beginning of the week when sailors assigned to Carrier Air Wing 8 returned to Naval Air Station Oceana on May 10. The following day, the Navy reported their return and advised families that the carrier would be returning to base within days.
Carrier Air Wing had reached Virginia at the beginning of the week (USN)
The Ford Strike Group had participated in NATO exercises and was in Croatia in October 2025 when the orders came down for the carrier to sail to the Caribbean. She took up station near Venezuela and supported the operations until February 2026, when the rare order came to return across the Atlantic. The Strike Group returned to the Mediterranean in time for the start of hostilities against Iran and was later sent through the Suez Canal to take up a position in the northern Red Sea.
After the laundry room fire, which was reported to have taken 30 hours to extinguish and damaged the racks of 600 sailors, Ford was sent first to Crete and then Croatia at the end of March for initial repairs. Reports said the Navy rushed mattresses from the under-construction USS John F. Kennedy to support Ford, along with other emergency supplies. However, the carrier was sent back into the Red Sea.
Looking a little worn after the 11-month deployment (USN)
Reports said she had left the Red Sea by the end of April, and in early May, she was reported to have finally sailed past Gibraltar. During the deployment, the group was deployed to the U.S. 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Fleets.
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Hegseth recognized the demanding conditions and the strain of the long deployment on the crew, saying, “You made history, answered the call with strength and resolve, and made our nation proud.”
USS Gerald R. Ford will go into a period of maintenance, which is speculated to last possibly a year. In addition to repairs from the fire, there were reports of problems with the advanced system that launches and recovers planes on the flight deck, as well as well-publicized plumbing problems. The Navy had responded to the reports in February, asserting that all systems were “operating within parameters.”
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